Defamation suit against Tawde

The state food and civil supplies minister Anil Deshmukh has filed a defamation suit against BJP leader Vinod Tawde in Katol court, Nagpur, for “baseless allegations” against him on the oil mafia issue.

The state BJP general secretary Tawde had alleged that a state minister had favoured the oil mafia in the wake of the killing of additional collector Yashwant Sonawane in Manmad in January.

Tawde had alleged that a bribe of Rs25 crore had been paid to some ministers in Maharashtra as well as to a Union minister to issue a government resolution (GR) favouring the oil mafia in the state.

According to Tawde, the minister had issued the GR pertaining to furnace oil that favoured the oil mafia.

As Tawde had linked the GR to Sonawane’s murder, Deshmukh said he decided to initiate criminal proceedings under Section of 500 of the IPC against Tawde.